1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of conducting sales transactions, and more particularly to a system, method, and computer-readable medium for conducting semi-opaque sales transactions.
2. Introduction
Currently, many on-line systems complete sales transactions in an opaque manner for various reasons. For example, the travel industry extensively uses opaque sales by withholding details about a product until after the purchase. Travel service providers such as hotel providers, airlines, and car rental companies maximize revenue by selling the correct balance of inventory at a higher price while not alienating customers that are willing to pay a lower price for the service. The objective is to encourage retail customers to pay the full price while garnering incremental customers that will not pay full price. Attempting to reach this optimal balance is called yield management.
Yield management may impact travelers' sensitivity to price because many travelers have learned from experience that the price for the same service can vary hugely. Statistics show that travelers search on multiple travel websites or call multiple travel call centers when planning trips. Travelers tend to distrust any one specific source until they have checked the rate across multiple sources.
Many travel service providers have become wise to this phenomenon and have introduced a rate-parity requirement across multiple sales channels. Rate parity is the concept that the service should be the same price anywhere the traveler searches for the service. To further this objective, service providers have introduced low-rate guarantee programs to ensure that rate-parity exists across all sales channels.
Service-providers may distribute their distressed or excess inventory at a discount to a variety of third-party aggregation sites (such as Expedia®, Travelocity®, and Orbitz®) to maximize occupancy as long as their full rate sales channels are not disrupted. However, service-providers hesitate to do so because they do not want to undercut their existing pricing. Specifically, a traveler may be willing to pay the full rate for the service because of loyalty or familiarity but may find a discounted rate offered by a third-party acceptable.
This is where opaque sales methods apply. Opaque sales methods do not reveal the specific details of the product or service until after it is purchased. Specific examples of companies that employ opaque sales methods are Priceline® and Hotwire®. Priceline and Hotwire both describe the item to be purchased in general terms without specifically identifying the exact details of either the product or service provider. The customer is informed of the details only after committing to purchase or after actually purchasing. Because the discounted offers are so generic in nature, many travelers are uncomfortable blindly purchasing a totally opaque travel service, even at discounted rates, because they are not confident in the quality or reputation of the purchased item. As a result, many travel service providers are limited in their ability to sell their excess inventory.
A method of sales has been known to those of skill in the art in the travel industry. Travel agents would show a customer a group of hotel brochures and tell the customer that a particular package includes one from the group of hotels displayed in the brochures. The travel agent would later select one from the group based on availability or other factors. Further, the travel agent practice of showing hotel brochures may not fully disclose comparable details between the hotels and a customer may know nothing about the hotels. A customer has no assurances beyond that of the travel agent as to the attributes and qualities of the hotels represented in the brochures. Travel agents cannot feasibly maintain groups of current brochures for every possible location, either.
While the problems with opaque marketing are easily visible in the travel industry, various other industries also employ opaque marketing techniques. Yet other industries are eager to enjoy the benefits of opaque sales, i.e. increasing sales of excess products or services, but are hesitant because of the potential downsides of opaque marketing.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way to increase sales of products or services at a discount price to customers who are not willing to pay the full price without diminishing the number of sales to customers willing to pay the full price, and a way to make customers more comfortable about purchasing an undisclosed product or service.